Strategos: Island in the Storm: (Strategos 3)

A tragic hero's tale, set in the heart of a historic war

The storm is upon us, Haga. The answers you seek dance within its wrath . . .

1071 AD. Emperor Romanus Diogenes has rekindled the guttering flame of Byzantium. Yet in the eastern borderlands, two vital strongholds hang in the balance. Manzikert and Chliat must be won to secure the empire’s fragile frontiers and vanquish the would-be usurpers who covet the imperial throne. But Sultan Alp Arslan and his vast Seljuk armies look to those twin fortress-towns also, resolute on seizing them first.

Apion rides by the emperor’s side as they march east, marshalling Byzantium’s armies for the conflict that is to come. He knows only too well that the threat posed by the Sultan’s hordes is well-matched by malevolent forces within the Byzantine ranks. Thus, the road to war is a savage one, but one he cannot refuse. For at its end, Fate beckons, taunting him with a choice of two futures.

On the plains of Manzikert, one great power will rise and another will fall. On the plains of Manzikert, Apion will face the storm.

Gordon is a Scottish writer, addicted to reading and writing historical fiction. His Legionary and Strategos novels have been an Amazon smash-hit, and have gone on to be translated and published in Russia, Italy and Greece.

Gordon's love of history was first kindled by the ruins of Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall, and travelling around the ancient world has kept the fire burning brightly ever since. He finds the Late Roman Empire and Byzantine eras intriguing, particularly the metamorphosis from late antiquity into the 'dark ages' and the medieval period. Equally, the Bronze Age and Classical Greece are firm favourites of his.